At the End of the Day … All Good Things Come from Above(Photo by Sarah Schuberth)

Basically, the Body of Christ should consist of many different members with many different gifts and we should all submit to one another according to the gifts the others have been given. That is the way the church initially was meant to be when the first Christians had no Bible as we know it today. We read in 1 Corinthians chapter 12,

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. (1 Cor 12:4-11 ESV [Colored emphasis in italics mine]

Here we can also see WHY God gives us gifts, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Cor 12:7 ESV) The gift is not for the one who receives it, but for those who are in need of it. And the Body of Christ has many different members. None of them is more important than another. All are equally necessary as Paul describes in 1 Cor 12:12-31. As for differentiating natural talents from spiritual gifts, I would like to point out to you the following definition.

A talent […] is something that you are born with. It’s a personal trait or characteristic. It is not an activity that you are good at (that’s a strength). The book defines a talent as “any recurring patterns of thought, behaviour or feeling”. So anything that you do daily, often without being aware of it is a natural talent. Let me give you an example If you are a person that thinks a lot and always analyses what you experience, then this is an ever existing pattern that defines who you are. You may wonder how this can be a talent – well simply because you can apply it productively: For example by getting involved on the front end of projects and initiatives. Maybe you are drawn to strangers and love meeting new people, creating strong connections with them and expanding your network. This is also a behaviour that you do continuously and mainly unconsciously. This is also a talent that can be applied productively – for example in a sales position. (Source http://www.theleaderoftomorrow.com/finding-your-strengths-and-natual-talents/)

I believe and have seen that God sometimes uses our natural talents and abilities when He connects them to His Spirit so that the initial natural talent we could use how we wanted beforehand can be used in a supernatural way according to God’s eternal plan. However, it is not necessary that someone has a special natural talent so that God can use him. Instead, we might remember that God does not need what the world thinks to be important and impressive,

“For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” […] For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor 1:19, 25-31 ESV)

Spiritual gifts are always given by God in order to build up the Body of Christ. From hence, we might understand that a Christian who separates himself from other Christians with who God has put him or her together won’t have that much spiritual power to overcome the attacks of the evil one on his own and will run danger to fall away from faith. Scripture confirms it here,

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” (Heb 10:23-27 ESV)

[Attention: If God has not yet put you together with others in the way I describe below, you may forget the verses from Hebrews, esp. 26 and 27, for now – completely!!!]

Fellowshipping in the sense of meeting together ought to have, first of all, a spiritual component. In fact, it is possible that you meet other believers and you try desperately to fellowship with them, but suddenly you realize that something must be wrong. You were looking for a closer and deeper connection through fellowshipping with them; however, it did not work. Whether you made your experience in a church building, in a house church meeting, or elsewhere is not important. Yet it is essential to know that true spiritual fellowship is never a man-made relationship. Indeed, it is a gift from heaven. The psalmist says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Ps 127:1 ESV) And since we live in New Covenantal times, we may know that the house of the Lord, i.e. the Church, cannot be seen with our physical eyes in the first place.

“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pt 2:4-5 ESV)

Can we see the living stone without our hearts having been enlightened by God’s Spirit before? Can we…? Most probably not. Also, we read that we, like Christ, are to be living stones that together constitute a spiritual house. From my own experience I can tell that as soon as I meet someone with who God wants me to fellowship, my internal eyes see him/her as I see God and Christ and I feel the same supernatural love God initially gave me to love HIM back. Then I know that such a relationship will turn out to be eternal because God ordained it to be so. The apostle Paul said,

“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Cor 1:9 ESV)

Apart from being one with God through Christ’s Spirit before, we cannot have such a spiritual fellowship with one another, however much we might yearn for it. If you still feel lonesome as for true fellowship, please, wait on the Lord. He will provide in His perfect time and then your loneliness will be over. Promise!

“…that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 Jn 1:3 ESV)

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51 thoughts on “Spiritual Gifts and Fellowship”

Such lovely words! That is a difficult concept to express and yet you did it so well.

There are many parts that make up the body and the hand is not the foot. You need all parts to conduct this perfect symphony that God likes to see. Everybody has their notes to play, their part to perform. It can be challenging however. Sometimes I think of us all as being not musically inclined at all, and God as being the most patient conductor, bound and determined to get us all playing something amazing anyway.

Oh, thank you so much for your compliments, Gabrielle, actually you made my day. 🙂

Your music analogy hits home. In fact, we need all different parts so that the symphony turns into something lovely to listen to. And you are right, it is challenging at times. Not always beautiful sounds… 😉

Scraping the fiddle
Still, is a riddle
Until we're in tune
And truly commune

Yes, so often we end up hearing the orchestra as it tunes up in the beginning… what a noise we can make until He is through fine tuning us, but it is needed before the symphony can start and truly be symphonic as HE intended! Hang in there! It is worth it ALL! Love hurts, but it also heals.

Susanne, EXCELLENT ARTICLE!!!!! Written from the heart of one who has been there AND IS THERE!!!! It is soooo filled with His truth and wisdom that has come through much suffering and shines forth in His great love.

“What a noise we can make until He is through fine tuning us, but it is needed before the symphony can start and truly be symphonic as HE intended!”

🙂

Indeed, it squeaks and creaks, it rattles and clatters, but FINALLY – it is a symphony! ❤ A symphony that tells us of an unconditonal and perfect love that does exist, even on this earth. This love is heavenly and unseen at first, and only those who experience it will know about it, until God reveals it to others whom He wants to get to know His great love, too.

Oh, and what wonderful compliments you wrote on here, my dear brother!

Mmmmmmmhhhhh……you make your sister melt away like ice in the sunshine…or was it Sonshine…? 😉 Thanks a lot for those beautiful words you bestowed on me, Michael. Did me a world of good today!!

NOW who is melting who??? So glad to be a blessing and edify you as my mutual member in His body. Like Paul said,

“For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Therefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also you do.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 KJ2000)

Susanne, you wrote, “I believe and have seen that God sometimes uses our natural talents and abilities when He connects them to His Spirit so that the initial natural talent we could use how we wanted beforehand can be used in a supernatural way according to God’s eternal plan.”

So how does God take that which is natural and make it spiritual and usable to Him? Two words, “The Cross.”

“Abraham saw God as Father. He proved Him to be the source of all things. Isaac received the inheritance as a son. It is a blessed thing to have a gift bestowed upon us by God. Yet even what we receive we may seize upon and spoil. Jacob attempted to do this, and was only saved from the consequences by having his natural strength undone. There must be a day in our experience when this happens. The characteristic of those who truly know God is that they have no faith in their own competence, no reliance upon themselves. When Jacob learned this lesson, then in truth there began to be an Israel of God…”
― Watchman Nee, “The Finest of the Wheat”, volume 1

In Jesus’ words, “It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing.”

I love to be used by our Father to edify the saints any way I can, Susanne. He has so softened my heart over this past year plus you have known me. I thank Him for the part you have played in this as well. God bless you so much!

May God bless you too, immensely, Michael. I will always be grateful to Him and to you for the part you have had as to my spiritual growing up into Him for the last…..calculating….. 😉 almost 16 months.

Thank you once again, Michael. The healing – yours and mine during that period – has all been His work. I see myself simply as a helpless screwdriver that cannot be useful on its own unless the Divine Craftsman decides to use it as He wishes. If He does not need me, I have nothing to do but wait on Him…and wait…and wait… 😉

Christian who separates himself from other Christians with who God has put him or her together won’t have that much spiritual power to overcome the attacks of the evil one on his own and will run danger to fall away from faith……. dear Susanne I have to disagree with you on this point for the power does not come from other Christians but from Christ alone…. many are isolated, alone for whatever reason, perhaps unable to meet other Christians does this mean then that the power of God is nullified? I have been on my own, until recently for 15 years and God has fought all of my battles everyone of them. This is not a dig at you Susanne, not at all, just expressing my belief on this one and also from experience. Question did God fail Elijah? No God met him in the most powerful way. David did not have his brothers or the Israelites fighting their battle with Golaith, it was God and David alone. There are so many examples Susanne. Pause for thought at least 🙂 ……

Here is a prophetic word I received not just for myself but for the Body of Christ of which God speaks that He fights all of our battles whether we are together or not.

Actually, that was a misunderstanding, my sister. I would never say that God’s power could come from other believers. God is able to carry us through every situation for years and decades without any other believer involved and He alone can make us stand. It was the same for me since I was for about 20 years quasi ALL alone. No Christian who could ever grasp my experiences with God whatever I tried. And thus I had already (almost) given up on ever seeing my personal situation being changed. I was just reminded of the apostle Paul who had a personal revelation given by Christ and needed no one of the former Jews to confirm the Gospel (for the gentiles) to him.

What I meant here was that I have experienced a much greater power when we prayed together with one voice for a certain concern because of Jesus’ promise which says, “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Mt 18:20 ESV) Before Jesus said,

“Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” (Mt 18:18-19 ESV)

Just recently I have seen daily so many quickly answered prayer requests that I have been wondering about the time when I was struggling all alone, waiting until God eventually answered one or two requests after a very looong time of waiting. I am still amazed at how quickly God replies to our prayers at the moment. It is a miracle and it does not happen because one of us had any power apart from God, it is only that God chose to put some believers together and adds His power to their prayers. It is always He who does it, we cannot make it nor fake it if the time is not yet right.

Thanks for the link to your blog, my sister. I am so glad that God wraps Himself around you in your current situation. Of course, He fights our battles… knowing myself how weak I am at all times… 😛

Susanne, here are some quotes from Watchman Nee about the indwelling Spirit and empowerment of God in the believer.

“I must first have the sense of God’s possession of me before I can have the sense of His presence with me.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“It is a great thing when I discover I am no longer my own but His. If the ten shillings in my pocket belong to me, then I have full authority over them. But if they belong to another who has committed them to me in trust, then I cannot buy what I please with them, and I dare not lose them. Real Christian life begins with knowing this.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“There is nothing stereotyped about God’s dealings with His children. Therefore, we must not by our prejudices and preconceptions make watertight compartments for the working out His Spirit, either in our own lives or in the lives of others. We must leave God free to work as He wills and to leave what evidence He pleases of the work He does.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

Great quotes from Watchman Nee, indeed. I particularly love the first and the third one because I experience the truth of what is said there in my life currently. Thanks for sharing them on here, my brother!

I WAS GREATLY BLESSED BY YOUR TESTIMONY: “JUST RECENTLY HAVE SEEN SO MANY QUICKLY ANSWERED PRAYER REQUESTS THAN I HAVE WONDERING ABOUT THE TIME WHEN I WAS STRUGGLING ALL ALONE WAITING UNTIL GOD EVENTUALLY ANSWERED ONE OR TWO REQUESTS AFTER A LONG TIME OF WAITING.”

“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pt 2:4-5 ESV) In this verse abice, thank God that Peter was saying “AS YOU COME TO HIM” and not as we go to church, because I believed they are two separate things. The later is centered on CHRIST and that is what will produced the much needed edification in His Body, but the later is a man-made way of realizing what you have written above…The problem is that most often, we end up not “being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” because instead of Coming to him we only come to ourselves thereby making our fellowships man-centered instead of Christ-centered which always makes the fellowship ingrowth, but I believe that when we allow God to rearrange our perspective, your article will be reality in our lives… thank you for sharing your thoughts Sussane…agape

Yes, you are so right, we need to COME TO HIM who cannot be seen with physical eyes. As long as our eyes of the heart have not been enlightened, alas, we will always be inclined to seek Him by going to church, hoping that we will find Him there. Usually, in churches we meet other people who are still searching for God, too. In churches as they are today we can hear droplets of His words (in sermons or through our brothers and sisters) time and again. However, the whole truth can only be revealed in the Spirit – personally to each of us when no other human being is involved.

You wrote,

“…instead of Coming to him we only come to ourselves thereby making our fellowships man-centered instead of Christ-centered which always makes the fellowship ingrowth…”

Hosea, this is very good, my brother, just as Susanne said. I love what you said, “…instead of Coming to him we only come to ourselves thereby making our fellowships man-centered instead of Christ-centered which always makes the fellowship ingrowth…”This is a great observation. It is only the foolish virgins who go to other virgins to get their oil. The wise ones always go to Him who is the Source of our anointing. It is this dichotomy that John was addressing when he wrote,

“I write this to you about those who would deceive you [foolish virgins]; but the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that any one should teach you; as his anointing teaches you about everything [the oil of he wise virgins], and is true, and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.”(1 John 2:26-28 RSVA).

We who abide in the True Vine, do not shrink back (dead branches) and go looking to other branches for what only Jesus can provide. As we are totally connected to HIM we will be ready for what is coming before His coming. “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!”
God bless you, my brother!

Thank you Mike and Sussane, your matured insights is an encouragement to we the younger ones. I have experienced first-hand of what I am saying above hear and I come to the conclusion that ONLY the Father can reveal the Son in me and vice-versa. And since then I resist the temptation of trying to create what I call “mechanical fellowship”.Yes, we need the gifts in other to come to the full measure and the statue of the son of God, but not in a mechanical way, we rather have to learn to discern His Body. I remember one of the favourite quotes of our brother Watchman New is “… you don’t organise for fellowship, rather, fellowship is spontaneous”. May God give us true discernment in other to be truely build up into CHRIST. Amen.

Wow!!! That is a wonderful compliment, Hosea, “matured insights”. 🙂 You also said,

“I come to the conclusion that ONLY the Father can reveal the Son in me and vice-versa.”

Yes and amen, my brother. Or in other words,

“All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Mt 11:27 ESV)

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” (Jn 6:44 ESV)

Hosea, I admire you humility. Saying that Mike’s and my insights were an encouragment for the younger ones was a very humble statement, indeed.

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